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Convention Center 2011

Welcome to the convention center! This is where you’ll come to find the presentations for the Virtual Conference this July.

Please, participate in the conference. All you have to do is respond to the prompt on your own blog and fill out this form to let us know. Teachers, administrators, students, and parents are welcome to join in and present. If you don’t have a blog yet, consider starting one!

We’ve gotten things started here with four eight keynote speakers. You can take their posts as inspiration during a particular week… or not! You do not need to pre-register, although I do of course recommend subscribing!

The Program

The center of a classroom is not a test, a textbook, or the posters on the wall. It’s not a state or district policy, and it most certainly is not a federal law…Programs don’t change people, relationships do.

The heart of my classroom is trying to get kids who see math as impossible to see math as possible. It’s about pulling them away from thinking “I’m not a math person” pushing them towards “I can be a math person.” I am not a success at this, but merely by being conscious of it, I am already making long strides.

If we say we want to create a student-centered learning community, we must consider the greater school-wide environment in which our classes operate. The reform efforts of any one teacher pale in comparison to the changes that can be made if everyone, staff, administration, and student body, work together to change how learning takes place. In this post, I argue that the next step in the evolution of our school as a learning community is to ditch the traditional bell schedule and instead implement an “open door” schedule and learning practices.

It’s specifically about a math teacher who, upon realizing that learning wasn’t linear, was going to extract some thoughtful responses from his students about the math they were learning in the classroom. That, my friends, is the basis for my speech today. If we continue to perpetuate the myth that learning somehow comes from one test given in two hours, then we’re cheating ourselves of too many opportunities.

Through student monitoring and expectations of academic success I explain how my classroom center and motivational goals keep me focused on the larger picture of providing a world-class education by preparing our students for competing in a global economy.

This is my first blog post, the first of many and my introduction to the online world of math teachers. If you think I should change anything, let me know! I really appreciate the opportunity this conference has given me to debut. Thank you!

How an ice-breaker activity becomes a symbol for success, failure,
risk-taking, and feedback throughout the school year.

The Prompt

What is at the center of your classroom? What ultimate goal or question motivates your work in education?

You’ll see articles with titles like…

It’s about relationships.

Challenges and successes leading a student-centered class.

Is there a place for teacher-centered classrooms?

Why I keep teaching even though it’s hard.

Leading a flipped classroom

How I made projects the keystone of my class

Giving meaningful feedback

Using computers to let students explore

The Matrix: Seeing the constructs for what they are; learning the rules so you can break them.

Some of these first set are more specific than others. They all give glimpses of their authors’ basic pedagogy. That basic pedagogy is what this conference is about: the hearthstones of our classrooms. Specific advice and experience is always helpful, and there’s also room here for philosophy and general values.

This summer’s conference will focus on the bigger questions of “What do we hold most important for our classes?” and “How can we better focus on that?”